This invention relates to fiber optic cable. More particularly, it relates to a system for protecting fiber optic rods which are present in the core of a fiber optic cable.
Cables which transmit information from one point to another by the use of light energy and which utilize glass, plastic, or other signal carriers are known as fiber optic cables. When compared to metallic wire electric cables, fiber optic cables are superior in several respects.
One advantage over metallic conductors is that fiber optic rods have more possible signal channels in that they utilize a wider band width than the electromagnetic band width used with metal conductors.
Another advantage of fiber optics over metallic conductors is that in systems using fiber optic rods having low db losses, the efficiency is much greater than metallic conductor systems.
However, metallic conductor systems have one great advantage over fiber optic systems and that is metallic conductors are much stronger than fiber optics since most fiber optic rods are now made of glass. If the fiber optic system is subjected to vibrations, bending, flexing, twisting, or any other mechanical or physical force, quite often the fibers break, whereas in a system utilizing metallic conductors, the chances of breakage are much less.